avalanche.
A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice.
Meaning & usage
A large mass or body of snow and ice sliding swiftly down a mountain side, or falling down a precipice.
A fall of earth, rocks, etc., similar to that of an avalanche of snow or ice.
A sudden, great, or irresistible descent or influx; anything like an avalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity.
Where this word comes from
From French avalanche, from Franco-Provençal (Savoy) avalançhe, blend of aval (“downhill”) and standard lavençhe, from Vulgar Latin *labanka (compare Occitan lavanca, Italian valanga), of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Late Latin lābīna (“landslide”) (compare Franco-Provençal (Dauphiné) lavino, Romansh lavina), from Latin lābēs, from lābor (“to slip, slide”).
To descend like an avalanche.
To come down upon; to overwhelm.
The shelf broke and the boxes avalanched the workers.
To propel downward like an avalanche.
Where this word comes from
From French avalanche, from Franco-Provençal (Savoy) avalançhe, blend of aval (“downhill”) and standard lavençhe, from Vulgar Latin *labanka (compare Occitan lavanca, Italian valanga), of uncertain origin, perhaps an alteration of Late Latin lābīna (“landslide”) (compare Franco-Provençal (Dauphiné) lavino, Romansh lavina), from Latin lābēs, from lābor (“to slip, slide”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.